Knowledge management (KM)
Knowledge management (KM) is the systematic process of capturing, developing, sharing, and utilizing organizational knowledge to enhance decision-making and improve performance. It draws from various disciplines, including business administration, information systems, and management, making it a multidisciplinary approach aimed at achieving the best results through informed knowledge use. As organizations increasingly recognize the significance of KM, they have implemented diverse strategies such as mentorship programs, formal training initiatives, and technology-driven systems to facilitate the effective management of knowledge.
Since its establishment as a distinct field in the 1990s, KM has become crucial in various sectors, including business, government, law, and healthcare, where it helps minimize failures and improve operational success. A knowledge management plan typically includes collecting relevant data, creating a guiding framework, and developing secure infrastructure to ensure accessibility. The role of a Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) has emerged, focusing on managing intellectual capital and enhancing the use of intangible assets. Overall, effective KM practices can lead to financial benefits, reduced turbulence during organizational changes, and better collaboration among employees, ultimately improving strategic decision-making and fostering innovation.
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Knowledge management (KM)
The process of capturing, developing, sharing, and using organizational information is known as knowledge management. Knowledge management represents a multidisciplinary approach to obtaining the best possible results through using the best knowledge available to an organization. Knowledge management makes use of learning from a variety of disciplines, including the fields of business administration, computer science, information systems, library science, management, public health, and public policy. Information generated through the knowledge management process is used to make organizational decisions by the leaders of government agencies, business enterprises, public institutions, and not-for-profit groups, especially those related to human resource management, information technology, and strategy decisions. Although established as a separate discipline of study only in the 1990s, knowledge management has grown and evolved to play in an important role in the decision-making process in many fields, including business, insurance, finance, government, law, medicine, research, and other enterprises.
Background
During the latter half of the twentieth century, the burgeoning use of computers and other digital storage systems exponentially increased the amount of information available. The successful creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge were seen as instrumental in permitting individuals and organizations to make the best possible decisions on a variety of topics. As many of these decisions could tremendously affect the success or failure of an endeavor, many came to see the management of knowledge available to decision makers as a crucial factor in making such decisions. To facilitate better knowledge management many corporations, government agencies, and other organizations implemented efforts to improve this process. These efforts included job-site discussions, formal apprenticeship programs, corporate libraries and archives, open forums, mentoring programs, and formal training initiatives. As technological advances increased the amount of information available, these efforts were joined by computer-assisted cooperative groups, expert systems, group decision support systems, intranets, knowledge bases, and knowledge repositories.
Knowledge management seeks to apply what is known about cognitive, social, and organizational learning processes to the pursuit of successful strategies. Other psychometric tools, such as measurement and benchmarking, are combined with incentives in an effort to drive cultural change and to accelerate the organizational learning process. Effective knowledge management systems are action-oriented, concrete, and purposeful. When properly run, knowledge management systems can yield benefits to individuals and organizations that are financial, systemic, and long-lasting.
During the 1990s, corporations and other organizations began to seriously address their needs for more effective knowledge management. To that end, many corporations designated a single person who was responsible for managing its intellectual capital and for establishing knowledge management practices in the organization. These individuals assumed a role often known as the chief knowledge officer (CKO). CKOs are responsible for creating an inventory of knowledge within an organization, including individuals, policies, procedures, and the human capability to solve problems and exploit intellectual property. CKOs also seek to better use intangible assets of an organization, such as patents and customer relationships, and to replicate successes that might improve organizational performance.
Topic Today
As organizations have embraced the need for knowledge management, they have examined the knowledge that the corporation or agency possesses and worked to use it to improve performance, minimize failures, and increase the number of successful endeavors. To do this, organizations formulate a knowledge management plan that specifies certain policies and procedures that make it more likely for such information to be used appropriately. The policies and procedures formulated vary, of course, from organization to organization, but often contain a variety of similar provisions. First, the organization must collect data that is relevant to the organization’s needs and goals. Second, an overall framework that guides the organization’s knowledge management must be devised and implemented. Third, the knowledge management agenda must be promoted within and without the organization so that the best possible data is collected and used. Fourth, a knowledge infrastructure must be developed, so that many processes are formalized and so that data collected is secure and accessible. Finally, communication, coordination, and connections must be forged so that knowledge possessed and generated by the organization may be effectively used.
Effective knowledge management requires a great deal of critical and reflective thinking by an organization’s leaders. Existing knowledge that the organization and its members possess must be identified and categorized, and new knowledge must be created to meet certain tasks. From this, the knowledge that is relevant to the organization’s needs and goals must be identified. Selected knowledge must be verified, and then methods of capturing and organizing that knowledge must be implemented so it is accessible and useful to those who need it. Knowledge must be disseminated to and used by the appropriate constituencies within the organization, and care must be taken that most members of the organization are spared a deluge of information they do not need. New knowledge needs to be combined with extant information, and areas where more data is needed to make informed decisions must also be identified. When this is done, decisions can be made using the best information possible, which does not always ensure success but greatly improves the chances of effective decision making.
Knowledge management has other benefits as well. It can reduce turbulence created by organizational overhauls and can help reduce the development cycle for new products and services, therefore enhancing productivity. Effective knowledge management can also increase the level of connectivity between internal and external networks. Effective business management is facilitated because employees are provided greater access to knowledge that is relevant and important to their daily responsibilities. The relevant expertise of individuals across an organization can be brought to bear on difficult problems the organization faces. As technology has advanced, digital knowledge management tools have also permitted better coordination of workforces as individual employees can be assigned tasks based on the current problems facing the group. Such tools have also allowed for information to be compiled, analyzed, and organized more efficiently.
Bibliography
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